Courtesy of IDW Publishing directly, we also have a second preview today for one of their comic books out this week, and the final issue of one of their Hasbro Universe ongoings: Rom the Spaceknight! Ending the series at issue 14, Christos Gage and Chris Ryall try tying up loose ends before the cast moves in with the Micronauts in the new series after First Strike, as reported here. Check out the preview below.

Rom #14
Chris Ryall & Christos Gage (w) • David Messina, Guy Dorian & Sal Buscema (a) • Nathan Greno (c)
“Long Roads to Ruin” finale! Is this the last issue of Rom? Yes… and no! First Strike is upon us and out of that momentous event, a new Rom will arise! But before that, the fate of the Knights of the Solstar Order!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
On the road to First Strike!
Final issue. Wait… what?! The portentous answers lay within!
Variant cover by Ray Dillon!

Realist side that I can't shut up inside my head: I'd guess with the personnel shakeups, someone looked at the financials and walked back a previous decision. Heck, it felt to me like SSF was getting more promo than Rom/Micronauts and only a smidge less than TF vs Visionaries, but I don't really want to look. I'd bet the sales of Joe vol. 5's run coupled with 1) poor early indicators of SSF orders and 2) the apparent status of SSF as an ongoing (as opposed to the other 5 issue minis about to launch), one of the folks in a new position made the call to cut losses. The timing and optics of it are especially poor, but I have a hard time ever getting too black/white on this kinda stuff.

Not saying anyone is without fault: Sitterson sent a poorly worded tweet, IDW axed an entire project and its creative team weirdly early with odd but possibly explainable timing, and no one wins.

Realist side that I can't shut up inside my head: I'd guess with the personnel shakeups, someone looked at the financials and walked back a previous decision. Heck, it felt to me like SSF was getting more promo than Rom/Micronauts and only a smidge less than TF vs Visionaries, but I don't really want to look. I'd bet the sales of Joe vol. 5's run coupled with 1) poor early indicators of SSF orders and 2) the apparent status of SSF as an ongoing (as opposed to the other 5 issue minis about to launch), one of the folks in a new position made the call to cut losses. The timing and optics of it are especially poor, but I have a hard time ever getting too black/white on this kinda stuff.

Not saying anyone is without fault: Sitterson sent a poorly worded tweet, IDW axed an entire project and its creative team weirdly early with odd but possibly explainable timing, and no one wins.

Yes. The what it looks like is the troubling part, but other information seems to confirm the rest.
Which is where some on-the-ball PRing would help ease any ill feeling towards IDW (from any party, really).

People already had bad will to IDW. Lots of people stopped reading IDW over that fiasco. But it's over and dune now. Can't we just let comics be our escape and not divide ourselves over politics here, please?

I was honestly surprised to see they were going to attempt another GI Joe ongoing, and I am not terribly surprised this was cancelled. I don't wish ill will upon those who wanted it, but really GI Joe hasn't been working out in any real book.

I will say though, the title with the whole "IDW cancels female led book" sounds more political than this should be. GI Joe as a whole hasn't been great, don't try to make it something more than what it may be

Courtesy of IDW Publishing, we get a preview look at a book due out this week (or perhaps the next, you never know with scheduling) which collects the three parts of the Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook we've seen released so far. The collected volume includes short comics, profiles, bios, details and more about most of the major players in the current Hasbro universe, including what hadn't been revealed at the time of first publication - check out the opening pages below, and join the discussion in the Energon Pub!

[quote]Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook
John Barber, Cullen Bunn, Sina Grace, & Various (w) • Robert Atkins, Guido Guidi, Paolo Villanelli & Various (a) • Marcelo Borstelmann (c)
From the pages of Transformers, G.I. Joe, Rom, M.A.S.K., Micronauts, Action Man, and Revolutionaries comes the ultimate guide to the heroic and villainous champions of Hasbro! The new post-Revolution universe's biggest movers and shakers from Acroyear to Zarana are all here with detailed bios and astonishing art by today's top talent! Plus, three back-up stories that expand upon the new lore of the shared universe; fantastic spreads of the bases of G.I. Joe, Optimus Prime, and the Micronauts; and if you look closely, hints of things to come!
TPB • FC • $17.99 • 144 pages • ISBN: 978-1-68405-099-4

Bullet points:
From today’s top creative talent!
Advance solicited for December release! [/quote]

You may have been following the news accompanying the retitled GI Joe series in the current shared Hasbro Universe from IDW Publishing, and its early cancellation with issue three - you can read more about that story here, and we apologise for not covering it at the time, an official statement from IDW that will never fully come can be found in the CBR story by ways of Chris Ryall.

That said, Scarlett Strike Force #1 - the new title - does finally get a little touch of marketing, by ways of showing the usual first couple of pages on iTunes, the synopsis, and a cover - plus a fair amount of Skywarp that we were missing in the rest of the IDW Transformers titles. You can check it all out below, and let us know what you think in the Energon Pub discussion boards, before the release of the book itself in a couple of weeks!

[quote]They’ve fought back invasions from home and afar—now, they’re back on Earth, and ready to take on the wildest, weirdest threats out there! It’s Scarlett’s G.I. Joe team, the Strike Force, against a brand-new Cobra Commander, a revitalized Cobra, and everyone else trying to conquer Earth… or destroy it! Aubrey Sitterson (G.I. Joe, Street Fighter x G.I. Joe) is joined by superstar artist Nelson Daniel (Clue, Dungeons & Dragons) in The Best Action Comic Ever![/quote]

I just read the whole controversy about writer Aubrey Sitterson, and why fans "Hate" him and all.
And all I can say is this, a lot of comic book writers are self-indulged morons, trust me I know, Larry Hama is one that comes to mind, he has been rude to his fans (me included), treating them like nothing more than "moronic fan boys", that should just shut up and kiss the ground that he walks on, yet no one questions him.....well I did and I got my a** served to me by Mr. Hama himself. Anyways my point is this is a stupid reason to cancel a series, but I expect nothing less from IDW since this is not the first time they made a stupid decision.

Michael Alex Kawa wrote:I just read the whole controversy about writer Aubrey Sitterson, and why fans "Hate" him and all.
And all I can say is this, a lot of comic book writers are self-indulged morons, trust me I know, Larry Hama is one that comes to mind, he has been rude to his fans (me included), treating them like nothing more than "moronic fan boys", that should just shut up and kiss the ground that he walks on, yet no one questions him.....well I did and I got my a** served to me by Mr. Hama himself. Anyways my point is this is a stupid reason to cancel a series, but I expect nothing less from IDW since this is not the first time they made a stupid decision.

Their decision they said was due to low orders. That’s their statement whether you want to believe it or not but you weren’t part of the discussion or decision at IDW.

We have a number of new comics previews for you this week, from all across the IDW Hasbro Universe. And we're starting with the first issue of the new combined series, that also takes place after the Revolution and First Strike events, featuring two franchises for the price of one - Rom & The Micronauts #1!

This first issue sets the ground for the collaboration and wider stage of the cosmic battles - but very much set on Earth so far - of the Solstar order and the Micronauts, facing the triple threat of Dire Wraiths, The Absence, and Baron Karza. Check it out below, and let us know if you'll branch out with this new series!

[quote]Rom & The Micronauts #1
Christos Gage (w) • Paolo Villanelli (a) • Richard Wentworth (c)
Baron Karza and D’rge, the Dire Wraith sorcerer, have joined forces to carry forward their equally malignant goals—Karza desires to conquer all of Microspace (again), while the Wraiths seek to awaken their Wraith God and conquer Earth! Now it’s up to Rom and the Micronauts to form their own alliance in order to stop the evil domination of two worlds! Christos Gage (Amazing Spider-Man, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Paolo Villanelli (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) team up to bring us this all-new adventure!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Coming at us from previous source of comics news Adventures in Poor Taste!, we have a full preview of the first of three issues of the shortly lived series that will be the continuation of GI Joe in the post-First Strike Hasbro Universe from IDW Publishing - Scarlett's Strike Force #1!

You can check out full synopsis, pages, cover and more below, including the significant sass that belongs all the Skywarp (who else) and let us know what you think in the Energon Pub discussion boards.

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